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The past ten months of touring the new album ‘Carried To Dust’ has been filled with a lot of great shows and experiences. We’ve met a lot of folks, seen a lot of friends and there’s been a bunch of requests for some live recordings of the new material to be sold at our concerts. So, with the help of the staff at the Ancienne Belgique in Brussels we recorded one of the best shows of the tour. Thanks to Peter Verstraelen, our Belgian Promoter, Staf Verbeek who recorded the show, Craig Schumacher who mixed the recording, Jim Blackwood who mastered it, David Babbitt who did the art layout, and Adam Reach who coordinated the assembly. Thanks, too for all of the musicians, guests, crew, friends and families who helped with making all of this possible.

The artwork is comprised of photos from the band’s first tour of Santiago de Chile and South America which influenced some of the songs on ‘Carried To Dust.’ We would love to return to South America as we’ve yet to play Brazil, Peru, Uruguay… heck, we haven’t even played Mexico yet. Hopefully we’ll find some folks to help us find some festivals or shows there. This upcoming Summer Tour finds us playing some new cities and countries; Poland, Hungary, Luxembourg, Israel and Finland which we’ve only played once. Thanks again to all of you for contributing your support of the music and live shows.

John and I are here in Seattle enjoying a day off with our booking agent, Ali Hedrick and her family. The Neko Case tour has gotten off to a great start. All of the crowds have been very receptive to the two piece version. I wish we could do more dates as we’ve been having a blast hanging with Neko and the whole band and crew. The last time we did the two piece two was in 1998 opening for the Dirty Three across The States. There’s an openness with playing as a two piece that allows for room to improvise that feels really good. You learn to appreciate the space and elasticity of time with phrasing, segues and tempo. I feel like we are just now finding our sea legs and sadly the portion of dates is coming to an end this evening at the beautiful Pantages Theatre in Tacoma. John has been sitting on ‘Red Tide’ and I have been playing some 12 string acoustic guitar on ‘This Tornado Loves’ you every night. The visuals on this tour have been stellar and all coordinated by the lovely Kathleen Judge. Hey does everyone know that Neko deisgned all the t shirt art? I try to help Kelly at the end of every night at the merch booth. Jon Rauhouse designed the tractor shirt. All in all an amazing touring team and super fun to hang with.

I hope we can all meet up again on the road with band and crew again soon. Thanks to Neko, Amy Lombardi, Ali Hedrick, Kong, Kathleen, Tim, Shelley, Kelly, Barry, Tom V Ray, Paul Rigby, Kelly Hogan (come to record at Wavelab!!) and Jon Rauhouse.

Calexico’s song “Black Heart” from album Feast of Wire (2003) has been used in the European trailer to the film Public Enemies, directed by Michael Mann and starring Johnny Depp, Christian Bale and Marion Cotillard. Interesting note that the film is about the life and times of John Dillinger who at one point was captured in Tucson Arizona on January 25, 1934 thru a connection to a fire at the Hotel Congress where some of his gang were staying.

Burns writes, “We met Michael Mann while working on the film Collateral (2004) and he, along with music supervisor Vicky Hiatt, had a good sense of our music and all the various moods and colors it evokes. I learned a lot from being on the set and watching Michael, the cast and crew work. We put in some serious hours just to get a single shot done right. I appreciate that sense of focus and paying attention to detail. He inspired everyone to dig deep and give their best. Public Enemies comes at a fitting time. Johnny Depp playing a Depression era Robin Hood who robs from the rich, gives to the poor.”

John, Joey, Jacob have recorded tracks with Spanish singer/songwriter Amparo Sanchez as well as Danish pedal steel player Margethe Bjorklund at Wavelab Studio in Tucson AZ. Here’s a link to listen: http://www.myspace.com/amparotucsonhabana

Burns writes, “Amparo came to Tucson with a beautiful collection of songs after a breakup with her husband. She decided to end her project “Amparanoia” and record more minmal versions of her songs as Amparo Sanchez. She asked John Convertino and I to help back her up along with Spanish upright bass player Jordi Mestres and several guests, Jacob Valenzuela, Salvador Duran and Jairo Zavala. She has since then fallen in love and married a Cuban percussionist and has recorded several more songs in La Habana at the famous Egrem Studios including recording a duet with Omara Portuondo from the Buena Vista Social Club. I am sure this is going to be a great album. They plan on mixing in July and are currently looking for a label.”

Calexico have recorded and completely rewrote the music for a Chris Gaffney track for a tribute to the musician who passed away in 2008. A Man of Somebody’s Dreams: A Tribute to the Songs of Chris Gaffney (Yep Roc Records). Burns offers,”We met Chris Gaffney with Dave Alvin in Boulder, Colorado. We shared a lot of similar aesthetics and musical background not to mention friends from Tucson. That night at the Boulder Theatre we performed a version of Bob Dylan’s “SeÃ±or (Tales of Yankee Power)” with Dave and I trading verses and Chris playing button accordion. It was a special moment. Months later we heard the news of Chris coming down with liver cancer. John Convertino reached out to his family and the next thing we knew, he had passed away. It all seemed to happen quick. Mutual friend, Jeb Schoonover invited me over to his home in Tucson to listen to a bunch of Chris’ vinyl albums. I really liked the song “Artesia” which Dave Alvin covered and this tune called “Frank’s Tavern” about an old bar in South Tucson that Jeb and Chris frequented. I wanted to make the song our own musically and so wrote new music and melody with an arrangement that would fit our band. I really like the way this one turned out especially the way the accordion and pump organ are arranged. It’s our way of paying respect to Chris and his family.”
(note: it is the only Calexico track on that album)
Here’s a link to more info about Chris Gaffney and the album: http://www.helpgaff.com/

Calexico has recently played several major music festivals in the US including Coachella and Sasquatch. End of August the band will be playing the Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco, California.

Joey and John will be playing a few shows with Neko Case and the band will join them for more US shows with Andrew Bird… then it’s on to Europe for July and August tour dates. Visit the tour page for all the info!

I sent some photos from Torino, Luzern and Ulm today to Josh at TGREC. Thanks Josh and Celia at casadecalexico.com for helping transfer the transmissions. Tour is going really well. Torino was a dream and a welcomed change from the chill of Bologna. Thanks to Francesco for being our guide to all that is beautiful about touring in Italia. Happy Birthday to Valentina P as well. Nice comments from the folks after the show and the dinner moments before at the ristorante across the street from the Teatro Colloseo was sublime. Spaghetti vongole, vino rosso, espresso…boom! Run back to the Teatro to play to an enthusiastic and warm audience.

Serious partying on the bus leaving Torino thanks to Oliver and Jelle’s bartending prowress. Slammer = vodka and champagne mixed spells disjointed dancing on the bus and queezy sleep across the border and into Switzerland. We survived and there are photos on Valerie’s camera. Should we post them?

Better stick to the lofi cell phone shots for now.

Luzern’s KKL Theatre is super modern and kickass. In the adjacent hall under the same roof Mischa Maisky is rehearsing a Haydn cello concerto with small ensemble. I am blown away and taken to a deeper level of inspiration. Later that day we rehearse with violinist, Anna-Sophie Mahler who we’ve been playing with in Europe for about ten years. She brings a whole different vibe to songs like “The News About William” and “Minas de Cobre”. John and I recently recorded some original material for a verison of Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie” that she is directing in Biel Switzerland (www.theater-biel.ch and www.theater-solothurn.ch). After the show Anna-Sophie and the whole cast present with us a gift of wine, cheese, olives, flowers as a thank you.

We arrive in cold, grey Ulm the next day. Time for laundry at the nearby washerei. Paul goes to the Apotheke for some supplies for Katja back home. Martin is on the street talking with his birthday gal Lena. Jelle rents a bike and rides of in search of crackers for our wine tasting night off. Patrick and I meet our friend Guni for espresso and pretzels. I sent some photos from the walk around town as the sun began to finally break from the clouds. We saw some old gates and buildings from the 1100’s and 1400’s. A man was taking his three greyhounds on a walk. There were decorations being hung for Mardi Gras. Tomorrow I will try to climb the gothic cathedral and get a bird’s eye view of what the legendary Schneider von Ulm might have seen. Apparently, recent scientists figured out that he would have succeeded in flying across the Donau if he had tried flying 200 meters south from his original point of departure.

wishing you all a safe flight
all those winged and webbed
a good night and sweet dream
joey

ItÂ´s cold outside. We are playing at Estragon outside of the city of Bologna. ItÂ´s even colder inside the industrial style hangar. Spirits are up. I stock up on vitamins and honey-lemon hot liquids. Seems like we are far away from everyone and everything. Where are we? Bologna? Italy? I think about the times when people ask us, what we see when we are on tour. I would love to have gone into town, but energy is low, and we are far from the city center. So we huddle round a spaceheater and do our best to stay warm. Hoping the show tonight brings some good kinetic energy and direction. Missing the old streets and small shops, ristorantes, cafes, etc. Jacob just sneezed himself awake. Jairo is waiting for a call from home to wish his son a Happy Birthday. John looks ready to connect with his Italian roots, Martin was online and is now missing, Volker on the bus? Paul is laying low. Late night show and hours to wait around. Best wishes to all.

I wake up late cuz I stay up late. Hard to roll to sleep when the bus drives off down the cobble stone. There’s movies in the upstairs lounge and drinks/food/discussion with the occasional DJ momento downstairs in the galley. Ray likes coffee at 3am. The chill settles in hard today in Lyon. Val, Jairo and I cab it into town for a look and walk around. We climb with the funiculaire to the top of the mountain overlooking the valley filled with buildings and the Rhone running through it all. Off in the distance the Alps pierce the low lying clouds with a touch of blue sky and shining mountaintop in the sun. It helps to get outside of the backstage. Seems like hours disappear easily there. It might snow tonight Ray says. I bundle up as best as I can and dig into to some rehearsing with band, “Cruel” and “Stray” are some of the cuts we run thru.